Wednesday, March 21, 2012

25 BEST Maple Leafs 25 and Under

To qualify for this list, a player's NHL rights must be owned by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he must be born in 1987 or later. Although overall potential is considered, the rankings are biased in favour of older prospects who have a significant chance of contributing playoff-calibre performances over the next 3 to 5 years.

The final bias would be toward players in the NHL, AHL and OHL, as it is harder for me to access and assess US college and foreign statistics.

Top 25 Young Toronto Maple Leafs

1. D: Jake Gardiner

2. RW: Phil Kessel

3. G: James Reimer

4. RW: Matt Frattin

5. C: Nazem Kadri

6. D: Luke Schenn

7. RW: Carter Ashton

8. G: Mark Owuya

9. D: Cody Franson

10. RW: Tyler Biggs

11. C: Joe Colborne

12. D: Jesse Blacker

13. LW: Brad Ross

14. LW: Josh Leivo

15. C: Greg McKegg

16. C. Josh Nicholls

17. RW: Sam Carrick

18. RW: Jerry D'Amigo

19. D: Korbinian Holzer

20. G: Jussi Rynnas

21. G: Garret Sparks

22. D: Stuart Percy

23. D: Simon Gysbers

24. LW: Marcel Mueller

25. LW: Nicolas Deschamps

Summary: Leafs need help on Left Wing and at Centre. Trading for 27 year old RW Rick Nash, a $7.8 mil player, may not be as wise as signing 27 year old LW Zach Parise for the same amount of money as a free agent, without having to give up anything.

28th in NHL scoring:

Zach Parise - 62 points

76th in NHL scoring:

Rick Nash - 48 points

Now, if Burke were to arrange for both of them to come to Toronto, most fans would be willing to give up a few names from the above list, especially below the top dozen.

About Me

Canadian horse racing and Toronto Maple Leafs fan, amateur hockey historian and student of standardbred breeding. Joe is also a perspiring songwriter and lover of inspiring architecture. His fist novel, Ari Loves Salome, was published in 2012.

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